Is it awesome?

[SheikhJahbooty]

Supposing someone combined Baron Münchhausen with Zorro or even Scarlet Pimpernel, would that be awesome?

I'm thinking masked adventurers from around 1780 to 1810 (Pimpernel - Zorro).

Then dropping in associates with "extraordinary abilities" and aliens from like the moon and supernatural occurrences.

Has it been done?

Is it wrong? I mean Zorro is basically Batman. If we give him super amigos, are we awesome, or tacky?

And, should real historical people play a part in a campaign? For example, if La Femme Incroyable, an immortal warrior woman from L'ile d'amazones aids the Scarlet Pimpernel, would it be cool for Mary Wollstonecraft to interact with the PCs?

Am I missing something about Zorro, the Scarlet Pimpernel or Baron Münchhausen that would make this idea awesome, or more awesome?

[Onix]

It would be interesting, although far more difficult to embue the story with the question of whether or not the events are factual or made up, but that's more the Baron Munchausen thing than anything else.

There also is in the movie, a feeling that the fantastic world he's from is dying and being replaced by "scientific thinking" even though the scientific thinkers are monstrous and dehumanizing. That would be a pretty cool thing to be fighting against. The idea that a wonderful world is dying because people are trying to nail things down and in some form or another the characters are either for order or chaos. In this sense though, chaos is life and possibility while order is regimentation and bureaucracy.

[Evil Scientist]

I really like the idea of a swashbuckling "masked vigilante" game set in historical times. Now, how do you tie it with tall tales?

I had this idea: characters do everyday (even if somewhat heroic acts), but they suffer from the everyday-ness and greyness of their life so much, that they make up stories. The game runs on two levels:
1) normal swashbuckling RPG, characters engage in swordfights, save damsels in distress or seduce barons.
2) but sometimes when the characters do something, the players have to come up with THE REAL STORY (thus, the second level of the game), or otherwise, they won't believe it happened. It's not a windmill, it's giants.

It's the opposite of the Dana Scully effect. Scully sees something extraordinary and tries to rationalize it. In horror movies, the characters do the same to save their sanity (try to). Now, the characters in this game do something dull and usual, so they add some flavour... Maybe they are fighting against oppressive Scully-science, as Onix said!

[Rob Lang]

It's a great idea. I wouldn't make the tales too tall, else you'll quickly lose the delightful setting. It will all too quickly become about the aliens and no the derring do of the masked vigilantes. The buckling of swash is what's fun here: land an alien with a laser gun and it becomes all about them.

I'd also ensure that you enclude their double lives. Have them attend Count of Montecristo ball events and mingling with society. Have the player lead two lives. You can run dual plots - one in the legal open and another in the shadows.

[Lejonel]

I agree with the gentlemen above. I really like the idea of masked avengers leading double-lives with separate adventures being available in the different lives. An interesting twist might be to include some way of the double-lives to not only interact, but also conflict eachother at times. Like when Zorro fights for the justice of the common man but Diego must fight for his role as an upperclass individual, partly to ensure the funds for keeping up his work as Zorro but also to keep up his comfy lifestyle as a nobleman.

I think you should ditch the aliens from the idea. I feel it might be a little bit too much, unless it is done in a very neat fashion.

Oh, and also: Swashbuckling action and comedy should definitely be part of the game.

[Onix]

Just as a point of note, SheikhJahbooty isn't talking about aliens with laser guns. Although he may be talking about a giant Robin Williams riding a flying three headed clockwork chicken. But in most cases the aliens are swashbucklers also.

[Rob Lang]

I still think that waters the concept down too much. It muddys the waters. I like the Zorro Mexico/New Mexico vibe and there can be plenty of twists without needing to resort to mashing together massive genres with a big genre hammer.

I may well be wrong about that, I often am!

[Onix]

Isn't that just though?

[maledictus]

SheikhJahbooty, if you don't make this game, I'll be forced to do it.

[SheikhJahbooty]

OK, I'll do it.

I need to figure out a way to create awesome rogues' galleries. Any ideas are welcome. So far I decided to take a day and go to the Two Lions in New York to look at old newspapers and catalogs for "super themes". It's just a thought that the reason we have more Batman movies and shows than Zorro movies and shows is that Batman has more weirdos gunning for him. But if I add Munchhausen characters to the mix, then Capitan Ramon could hire some really extraordinary bounty hunters to take out the PCs.

When you guys are playing Hong Kong Action Theater, how do you make up brilliant kung fu assassins?

It might be cool to include a few tables of random themes.

Also Onix's idea is flipping brilliant. I don't know how to do a Don Quixote RPG, but I wish I did, like a game where the PCs have crazy adventures but sometimes they will have to interact with a world in which it was all just made up stories. Maybe I'll go over all those Changeling the Dreaming books again, especially Autumn Lords. If I figure this out I'll come back to it.